Originally Posted by imanaussie

Burleigh Waters is far closer to the beach than both Pacific Pines and Coomera. The latter two are further inland but Burleigh Waters is very close to the beach with some beautiful parks right on the beach at Burleigh Heads. Burleigh Waters sits just behind Burleigh Heads and is a wonderful area of the Southern Gold Coast. Plenty of wonderful parks for the younger ones and the beach at your doorstep.

A good Primary School in the area is this one:

http://caningerss.eq.edu.au/wcmss/

There is also Burleigh Heads State Primary School. I have not had children in either of these schools but have heard good things about Caningeraba Primary.

I have not lived in Coomera or Pacific Pines as they are both too far from the beach for us personally so have never looked into either of these areas. We like to be able to get to the beach within 5-10 minutes drive time so have chosen Mermaid Waters which is a suburb that borders Burleigh Waters.

Good luck with your decision. I know there are plenty of people on here that live in Pac Pines and Coomera areas and love it but for us its a bit too far inland.

Cheers

Originally Posted by dolliedimples

Hi Nicky...
I totally know where you are coming from..
I moved to Pacific Pines when I got here and loved it..but my daughter didnt settle at school.
There are 1200 kids at the primary school..fab head and teachers but just too big..so I started to look around at other schools and areas to live..being a community nurse has given me heaps of opportunities to look at suburbs and housing etc.
For me, Pacific Pines is a lovely place to live but not walking or cycling distance to the beach..but only a 15 minute drive. Coomera a bit further out again..Burleigh Waters is a lovely suburb its older than Pac Pines. I have found Elanora and Currumbin Waters to be my fave suburbs..they are older very green and leafy..some parts are hilly with amazing views (but you pay for that) and near enough to the beach for a long walk or bike ride.
Schools..well my kids are now at Tallebudgera State School and we all love it..only 600 kids very friendly and fab teachers..extras that really steered me this way include air conditioned class rooms, girls can wear loose cotton dresses and boys have shirts rather than just polo shirts. Its an old school that could do with a coat of paint but looking past that..there are established mature trees providing much needed shelter for both the kids and the resident koalas. Theres a performing arts studio for the school rock band..(lessons by one of the teachers at lunch time) the grounds man is the drummer and they are so awesome to watch these confident kids performing everything from AC/DC to Led Zepplin..the school also has an aerobics team again organised by one of the teachers..theres a real sense of belonging and for kids that have difficulty settling in or have any issues at school they are a 'kidsmatter' school which is govt funded for mental health issues for kids..wow, I could keep goin but I reckon you will get the drift of what Im sayin..
Good luck with your search
Sarah xxxx

Originally Posted by bradburns2

Just having air con on for the rest of the summer that the children are at school would be nice though, imo it is necessary.

It is also very unheathy to spend too much time in a hot classroom that doesn't even use the cieling fans that they do have.

I pay over $8,000 per year to education Queensland and so do a lot of other overseas students to send their kids to Qld schools, i can't see anywhere that they do spend the money, they don't even provide paper or tissues!

Originally Posted by moneypen20

If they're not using the fans then I'd have something to say about that. Why do you pay that amount to EQ? I pay $300 for each child. Count up every classroom in every public school in QLD and then cost up an aircon unit for each of those classes. Then add the service costs, electricity costs and then decide if it's necessary for two months of the year. How did children and adults manage here before aircon? Or was it cooler in those days?

Obviously we move with the times and when we have new technology we use it, I just would not be happy if my girls were in an air con bubble all day and neither would they, they'd freeze and feel ill because they are used to the climate. All ceiling fans should be working and all windows open during the summer months and all children should have bottles of water with them at all times.

It will always be unbearably hot and humid if you (general) live in an air con bubble, get used to the climate, acclimatise and very soon you're (still general) unaware of the temperature, it becomes normal.

I want school fees spent on good teachers and structure. We'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

Originally Posted by Tweenies

My three children (ages 10,8 and 5) go to coomera Springs state school and all of them love it.
It is a new school, half of which opened Jan 08 with the other half opened only this Jan 09.
I would definitely recommend the school.......good luck with your search